Yes, seriously. QUIT HITTING THE GODDAMN TORNADO BUTTON. This is getting not only a bit redonkulous but a whole lot of sad and the very sort of thing we don't like to see. :(

Just friggin' stop it with the metaphysical tornado button. :P

(And I know it's already been mentioned, but people laugh when schools and businesses in Dixie Alley and Hoosier Alley have Tornado Days and Early Pretty-Damn-Severe Tornado Watch Dismissals (yeah, pretty much anytime a PDS tornado watch gets issued here there's a general early dismissal plan in a lot of cities here)...well, this is why. :( I'm not sure it would have helped much, but it's the sort of thing that the early dismissals are meant to prevent in theory. And yes, this is actually somewhat of a new thing around here, but especially after some outbreaks in the 90s and the Mega Outbreak in 2011 it's something that is taken fairly seriously.)

And in addition to battery and "Freeplay" crank-dynamo radios...if you have an interest in helping to get better early warning and help with coordinating rescue, I encourage folks to get their ham radio licenses and consider getting training to become a Skywarn storm spotter. (You don't even need Morse anymore to get a ham radio license--it helps in multistate communication, yes, but most of the Skywarn nets and emergency nets tend to be on VHF repeaters--and you can actually get spotter training online if there isn't an NWS spotter course nearby. Also, ham radio tends to work well when the cell towers are out.)

/really hopes for the AR/OK/MO folks that the 11-dimensional kid quits hitting the tornado button//godfarkingdamnit, I thought we were generally past the days when tornadoes racked up huge death counts in the US :(

Great Porn Dragon:Shadow Blasko: Great Porn Dragon: Fark It: Uchiha_Cycliste: bkosh84: Shadow Blasko: sethstorm: Tornadoes: None in my neck of the woods, since they all seem to go to the east or south.

Please tell me where in SW Ohio you are where you have not had a tornado within 10 miles?

Wasn't there a tornado in Xenia or whatever back in the 1920's or 1930's that was the deadliest in history,?

I thought it was called the tri-state tornado or something.

That was almost certainly not one tornado, but rather a big supercell that spawned multiple tornadoes along one path.

...actually, as scary as it may seem, there IS a consensus building among meteorologists that this was in fact genuinely an incredibly long-tracked tornado and not a tornado family (for some time, it WAS thought the "Tri-State Tornado" was in fact a tornado family from a cycling supercell, but in the past few years folks have gone back over the data and determined that it really was pretty much the Tornado That Would Not Die after all).

So... This really isn't the conversation I wanted to be having .. again.. tonight .. How bout you?

Well, hoping by the time the weather gets to the Ohio Valley that the storm gods have tired of whirlydoom, other than that...dealing with frickin' allergies (have not gotten good sleep thanks to, well, the trees essentially having a Tree Orgy and me being rather allergic to tree pollen of just about everything that grows here...remind me WHY I live in the Ohio Valley again? :D)

And yeah, was rather hoping we'd not be having a thread on the Midwest getting rodgered by the sky yet again...:P

Are you saying that tornadoes are sky boners?Puts a rather chilling spin on what hail is. =/

Man On Pink Corner:Uchiha_Cycliste: I can imagine a day when the sky is filled with little solar powered weather drones at various altitudes all over the world and that data is fed into massive computers worldwide resulting in one solid earth weather map. The earth is a closed system. In theory if one were able to measure and correlate all of the forces at work below the edge of space and above the earth, they would have some wicked predicting power. Right?

Tom_Slick:exvaxman: One of the reasons I bought my house was due to it being built with a fallout shelter. Built in 1958. The house inspector who went through was amazed with the steel beams holding up the concrete that was the base for the garage. I figured that anyone building a house like that, there would be less issues over the years with construction quality.

The tornado room was a deciding factor in my home purchase, sure it has vinyl floors and Formica counters but it is has a tornado room.

/Please tell me you have a Fallout Shelter sign.

I wish I had a house with an awesome shelter, but there's no practical need for one where I live.

skozlaw:Iowan73: Just saw a guy being interviewed live on CNN who was wearing a tank top with "She Wants the D" written on it. If you wear something like that, you are almost certain to end up on world-wide live television.

After a tornado.

CSB

After the 1998 tornado that ripped through Hall County GA they were showing pictures of the damage, a reporter was in front of this huge pile of scrap metal, he went to interview the guy walking around, the pile was not tornado damage but that is how his front yard always looked. He informed them of this fact on live TV stating "I didn't lose a damned thing."

Just saw a guy being interviewed live on CNN who was wearing a tank top with "She Wants the D" written on it. If you wear something like that, you are almost certain to end up on world-wide live television.

As a small town first responder I have seen some things that have rattled my cage but I pray to Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan that I never find myself in this kind of rescue/recovery situation.

DON.MAC:Uchiha_Cycliste: Okay. So if I understand correctly, debris can get sucked way up if the drafts are right but primarily its just fierce spinning winds. In other words cartoons and media have taken some creative liberties with what the middle of a tornado does. Thanks!

Tornados do suck. The wall clouds where they form are a huge low pressure system and that cases an updraft that tends to go from about 3,000 feet up to about 30,000. Hail bounces around in that from the updraft so the vertical winds happen to be high enough to counter gravity for things like grape fruit sized chunks of ice. As those wall clouds get close to the ground, you can get the characteristic funnel and once that forms, the forces in it help reinforce the vertical air flow as cyclone helps drive air away from the low pressure point at the center. The NWS skywarn web site has lots of useful on how they work.

Thanks! Do you know what it is like way above the tornado?Does that suction dissipate above the clouds, or create a huge upwards force for miles upwards? would a plane flying at 40,000 feet, 10,000 ft above the top of the clouds be safe?

From the article....First responders told KFOR-TV's Lance West they don't believe there are anymore survivors in the Plaza Towers Elementary school.

So far the bodies of seven children have been recovered.

Crews said they believe 20 to 30 more children may be inside but again, do not believe there are anymore survivors.

Let that sink in for a minute. I harp on our school system here in Northern Va for hitting the goddamn panic button. No more. Never. Ever.I can't even find the right words right now.I yelled at my daughter earlier for something rather innocuous. We're heading downstairs for some ice cream.

OK, I get it. People who don't believe in God think prayer is a waste of time. It is utterly stupid to hope that people are found alive and well, are reunited with loved ones, and taken care of because hoping changes nothing according to a purely rational worldview. And why be thankful that you barely survived a massive calamity if there is no God to thank (and if even if there were you can't know that you aren't on his to-do list for the next tornado)? In the absence of compelling evidence for or against God, a willingness to believe has to be rooted in optimism. I'll take that optimism over "don't waste your time praying" and "don't embarrass us both by thanking your made-up God" any day.

Torgo_of_Manos:derpy: Anthracite: Torgo_of_Manos: Donate to the Redcross if you can

DO NOT DONATE TO THE RED CROSS....

Havent you heard enough of the crap they DONT DO???

Your money would be better spent by renting an airplane and dropping dollar bills in the general area.

What an appropriate user name

It's actually true. Here in Alabama they where useless for the Tuscaloosa Tornado outbreak.All money to the red-cross goes into their 'general fund' very little of that actually reaches people in need.Better to go on a website and donate to the local chapter of the Salvation Army in OKC---they target the area; and a very streamlined overhead cost.

As I was SAYING in the other thread, MODERATOR, that one is headed towards Granbury, which was devastated during last week's storms. There's also a tornado warning for Montague County, which also had a tornado touch down last week (EF2). Are we working on some tornado ruts out here or what?

So its your fault?

Hm, it may be. I think I've had my lifetime limit of tornadic experiences so I've developed a weather bubble that deflects all the worst stuff.

In other news, not sure if I should stick with national coverage to keep up with Moore or stay local in case we get a warning. Hm..... I know the answer sounds obvious, but....

Get your ass somewhere safe and stay there young lady. I dont trust these damned tornadoes and dont want you playing fast and loose cuz you think you are tornado proof.